Got my butt handed to me again!

I'm a military member stationed in Germany and there are a few different military bases where I am. I live on one base and work on another that is about 5 to 6 miles away. There is a cobblestone road that connects the two bases. The road was originally built for tanks to transit from one base to the other back during WWII, but now it is pretty much solely used for cyclist, joggers, and pedestrians. So this is the road that I use to commute to and from work every day.

Anyway... There is a German guy that commutes in the mornings about the same time as I do. I usually see him on the trail about once or twice a week. I've never spoken a word to this German guy, but somehow we've established a telepathic mutual understanding that WE HAVE TO RACE anytime we see one another. The only problem (for me) is that he smokes me on the uphills. I can keep up with him on the flats, but the race is usually over shortly after we hit a nice sized hill.

When I got to work today, a few people commented on how I was drenched in sweat. All I could do is laugh to myself and silently vow that one day I'm going to beat (or at least keep up with) my "Morning Commute Nemesis".

I used to ride this huge hill every day pulling my daughter in her trailer. When group ride day came with my buddies, it was like someone cut me loose.
Funny... I'm not the fastest guy anymore, but I still climb like a wildman. You'd think I'd be faster on flat ground.

I used to ride this huge hill every day pulling my daughter in her trailer. When group ride day came with my buddies, it was like someone cut me loose.
Funny... I'm not the fastest guy anymore, but I still climb like a wildman. You'd think I'd be faster on flat ground.

I do the same thing on the weekends when I go on rides with my son in tow, so I'm not a slouch when it comes to climbing. I can usually beat or at the very least keep pace with just about anyone I encounter on the trail, but this one German guy is a beast.

Awhile back I got PWN3D by a lady on a foldie going up hill. It was very humbling. Get PWN3D by roadies once in awhile, usually after they've just taken their bike off their car rack while I took the trouble to grind the whole 5 miles uphill to the bike path. I do wish I had a regular "nemesis" though to keep me on my toes! In the mean time, I'm content to PWN the occasional fellow cyclist. It's all in good fun!

I'm a military member stationed in Germany and there are a few different military bases where I am. I live on one base and work on another that is about 5 to 6 miles away. There is a cobblestone road that connects the two bases. The road was originally built for tanks to transit from one base to the other back during WWII, but now it is pretty much solely used for cyclist, joggers, and pedestrians. So this is the road that I use to commute to and from work every day.

Anyway... There is a German guy that commutes in the mornings about the same time as I do. I usually see him on the trail about once or twice a week. I've never spoken a word to this German guy, but somehow we've established a telepathic mutual understanding that WE HAVE TO RACE anytime we see one another. The only problem (for me) is that he smokes me on the uphills. I can keep up with him on the flats, but the race is usually over shortly after we hit a nice sized hill.

When I got to work today, a few people commented on how I was drenched in sweat. All I could do is laugh to myself and silently vow that one day I'm going to beat (or at least keep up with) my "Morning Commute Nemesis".

work on those hills and then we'll be looking for the update about you beating this guy! where area you in germany? garmisch?

Awhile back I got PWN3D by a lady on a foldie going up hill. It was very humbling. Get PWN3D by roadies once in awhile, usually after they've just taken their bike off their car rack while I took the trouble to grind the whole 5 miles uphill to the bike path. I do wish I had a regular "nemesis" though to keep me on my toes! In the mean time, I'm content to PWN the occasional fellow cyclist. It's all in good fun!

I've only been commuting about 10 months (I started in April of '08). Within the first couple of weeks from when I started, I got PWN3D by an old lady. It was definitely embarrassing, but it actually turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened to me. It made me realize that I was burning myself out by grinding in the high gears. I ultimately became a much better rider thanks to that old lady. Now I can pretty much beat anyone I encounter during my commute with the exception of this one German.

Originally Posted by Eric Z

work on those hills and then we'll be looking for the update about you beating this guy! where area you in germany? garmisch?

I'm going to download "Eye of the Tiger", put it on my iPod, and start training like Rocky. From now on instead of seeing him as a German, I'm going to think of him as the Russian in Rocky 4. But seriously, during the warmer months I use my Garmin Edge to compete against my own commute times but I've gotten away from doing that during the colder months. The good news is that it will be warming up again soon. I'm in Stuttgart.

Originally Posted by damrtn

Do you ride with clips?Also if it's only on the uphill it may just be that your bike/cargo/weight is higher than his......

I wish i had that, not to brag but i pass by fellow commuters at twice their speed....

Trust me; I've analyzed all the circumstances over and over again in my head trying to figure out if he has some kind of advantage over me. It isn't that he's on some super performance bike because both of our bikes are fitted to be dedicated commuters (fenders, pannier racks, lights, etc). He even had a pannier bag hanging on his rack yesterday, although I don't know if there was anything in it. I only had my trunk bag on my rack, but it still didn't matter.

I usually ride with clips although I gave them up for the winter because of the road conditions and the temperatures, but I had my cleats on yesterday and I still got dusted. I've come to the conclusion that the only possible explanation is that he's on "The Juice", HGH, or some other form of performance enhancing drugs.

I had some kid roll up next to me

I`m in the same boat as Helmsdini. The only other bikes I ever see on my commute are kids riding figure eights in the street. If I ride into town, I sometimes see other riders, but never tried racing any of them- in most cases the winner would be obvious, so absolutely no point. Eeither they`re walking their bikes up the hill or they blow by me so fast I`d never even catch them, let alone keep up the speed for any length of time. I know about getting embarrassingly beaten though. I used to do an anual fundraiser race from Lake Tahoe to Truckee, CA. 30km of XC skiing. Many little old ladys left me in the dust every year.

Saw him again today...

Had I known that he was behind me, I would have slowed down a little so that we could race again. But by the time he caught up with me, we were at the point where we go seperate directions. We did wave and smirk at each other in passing.

Once it gets warmer, I'll have a lot more people to race between the bases because more military guys will start riding again. I love racing other military guys for a few reasons:
1. For the most part, military guys are ultra-competetive.
2. Most of the military guys I encounter are Army. I'm in the Navy so I get to represent for my service.
3. I almost always win because most of them only ride during the warm months.
4. I usually end up seeing them on one of the bases and they almost always remember me smoking them (we usually smile at one another in passing).
5. I get the most pleasure from beating the younger guys that just got out of Basic Training because they don't understand why they can run 10 miles hualing a 50 pound ruck sack on their back, but they can't beat some 30 something year old guy over a few miles on a bike.

5. I get the most pleasure from beating the younger guys that just got out of Basic Training because they don't understand why they can run 10 miles hualing a 50 pound ruck sack on their back, but they can't beat some 30 something year old guy over a few miles on a bike.

It took me a long time to learn air is different.
When I swam, It never helped with biking.
When I trained for the 1/2 marathon as a novice runner, biking didn't help.
Doesn't seem fair.

Don't you love that? My gf and I get passed by grannies on our commutes. It took me a few weeks of riding to get into it on the big uphill, but then I was getting killed by people on the way home who rode level ground faster. It never ends.

Speaking of which, I'm usually carrying a full backpack of books and my laptop and running it as an SS.

I bet he wears Spandex!!!!

"Trust me; I've analyzed all the circumstances over and over again in my head trying to figure out if he has some kind of advantage over me. It isn't that he's on some super performance bike because both of our bikes are fitted to be dedicated commuters (fenders, pannier racks, lights, etc). He even had a pannier bag hanging on his rack yesterday, although I don't know if there was anything in it. I only had my trunk bag on my rack, but it still didn't matter."
[/QUOTE]

Gotta be the pants.....I remember riding in southern Belgium in the mid-80's, commuting on the weekends from off-base quarters to the base. My housemate and I (him on a Huffy 10 speed and me on an AAFES-bought Peugeot touring bike) would be huffing and puffing up the hills and from behind we would hear this kind of whooshing sound. Soon enough, here would come a local biking club, all kitted out in team colors and Spandex pulling their way up the hill. Steve and I would try to jump on the last person's wheel, but we got dropped real fast. Our constant consolation was that we were riding in jeans and tee shirts, while the Belgians had the advantage because of the shiny pants.

I guess you will have to go shopping for Spandex?

Bill

If you want to get there, go there.

"Their civilization was just a thin veneer over the unyielding realities of life beyond the frontier, and all too soon these dreams of civilization gave way to the inevitable."
- anthonys

I had one good race in the last 6 month of my commuting. I guy on a 16lb full carbon ridley (I think) road bike vs me on my 24 lb steel voodoo mountain bike with bald twister supersonic tires. I first met up with him about 2 blocks from my house, and raced him at least 7 miles to my school. I had leads on him the first 5 miles on the flats and first small hills, but I got stuck at 2 red lights where he caught up, and we had chats with each other. Then I got to the one big hill in my commute and dropped to my middle ring up front to spin up it, feeling comfotable with my lead. He then proceded to mash past me up the hill. I wasn't able to catch him on the flat, and I spun out on the down hill only to maintain the same distance between us. Luckilly at the bottom of the downhill it was his turn to hit a red light where I caught him, and when we went our separate ways I called the race a draw. I've since swapped my wheels and tires to 1" high pressure slicks saving close to 600 grams in rotating mass, and I'm itching for a rematch. I can now mash up that big hill in my 44 18 gear, and I've knocked about 3 mins off my commute time. All the other cyclists I've encountered seem to be more the putter along type, but even they present good inncentives to ride fast when I see them a few hundred yards ahead.

Gotta be the pants.....I remember riding in southern Belgium in the mid-80's, commuting on the weekends from off-base quarters to the base. My housemate and I (him on a Huffy 10 speed and me on an AAFES-bought Peugeot touring bike) would be huffing and puffing up the hills and from behind we would hear this kind of whooshing sound. Soon enough, here would come a local biking club, all kitted out in team colors and Spandex pulling their way up the hill. Steve and I would try to jump on the last person's wheel, but we got dropped real fast. Our constant consolation was that we were riding in jeans and tee shirts, while the Belgians had the advantage because of the shiny pants.

I guess you will have to go shopping for Spandex?

Bill

As a matter of fact, he does wear spandex but I'll concede if it means that I'll have to wear spandex to keep up with him. I wear regular jeans with the legs cuffed so that they don't get to oily from the chain, regular t-shirts, and regular jackets. Once it warms up I'll ditch the jacket and start wearing shorts so maybe I'll have a better chance of keeping up with him then.

I commute on a rigid MTB with 2.1 slicks so technically just keeping up with a roadie is a win but somehow never feels like it.
I can never decide if the best races are the ones where your opponent tries to draft you and you still pull away or the ones where you are really feeling the pain and just about to give up when your opponent does.

I'm a military member stationed in Germany and there are a few different military bases where I am. I live on one base and work on another that is about 5 to 6 miles away. There is a cobblestone road that connects the two bases. The road was originally built for tanks to transit from one base to the other back during WWII, but now it is pretty much solely used for cyclist, joggers, and pedestrians. So this is the road that I use to commute to and from work every day.

Anyway... There is a German guy that commutes in the mornings about the same time as I do. I usually see him on the trail about once or twice a week. I've never spoken a word to this German guy, but somehow we've established a telepathic mutual understanding that WE HAVE TO RACE anytime we see one another. The only problem (for me) is that he smokes me on the uphills. I can keep up with him on the flats, but the race is usually over shortly after we hit a nice sized hill.

When I got to work today, a few people commented on how I was drenched in sweat. All I could do is laugh to myself and silently vow that one day I'm going to
beat (or at least keep up with) my "Morning Commute Nemesis".

Man this post is funny! You put into words what so many of us do, but never talk about. He smokes you on the uphills huh? Thin guy? What is Yan Ulrich (spelling?) doing these days? MTT

Man this post is funny! You put into words what so many of us do, but never talk about. He smokes you on the uphills huh? Thin guy? What is Yan Ulrich (spelling?) doing these days? MTT

You never know! That reminds me of a story I read years ago in a magazine about a guy who raced and was quite fast who used to dress up like a complete fred every once in a while and go out to mess with people's minds

Ahaaaa!

I encountered him again today. Once again by the time he caught up with me, we were almost to the point where we go separate ways. I did study his riding technique for the small portion that we did ride together and "I'VE GOT IT!" He out spins me. My cadence going up long steep hills slows down to about 70 (although I do downshift a gear or two). He downshifts more than I do and continues to spin at about 90 or so.

It's going to take me some practice because 70-75 is a comfortable pace for me to tackle hills, but I'm going to try to concentrate on keeping my cadence above 85 on long hills and see if I can improve on my best commuting time.